At Jadaliyya, which is such a fine website, I have an essay on how we understand violence in our times. It is an essay that - in many ways - brings together some of my concerns over the years, of how to write about acts of violence, how media writes about acts of atrocity, how there is a great difference in the treatment of violence done by the 'West' and by the 'East' and so on. This is an essay I neither planned to write nor enjoyed writing. There is something painful in following the lead of two of my gurus in these matters - the Martiniquan

MEET THE AUTHORS
Karim Makdisi
and Vijay Prashad

Karim Makdisi is Associate Professor of International Politics at the American University of Beirut and Research Director of the UN in the Arab World program at the Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs.